The slivilith were a species of large, green, non-sentient creatures originally created by the Yuuzhan Vong as a long-range intelligence gathering device thousands of years before their eventual invasion of the galaxy. Fearsome predators with little mind of their own, slivilith could travel immense distances across the vacuum of space in a sort of hibernation state before awakening on re-entry into a new atmosphere, after which it immediately sought heat. Although they frequently appeared in popular entertainment, slivilith were often considered myths by the galaxy at large. Only four encounters with slivilith had been confirmed by the time of the Galactic Civil War, including a battle between a slivilith and a team of Rebel operatives on Arbra in 3 ABY.
A slivilith takes wing.
Massive, green bat-like creatures, slivilith were the size of a small shuttle, flying on large wings spread out from its bulbous body. Its round head was highlighted by a gaping maw and a pair of wide-set red eyes, and it had a series of tentacles that trailed from the end of its body. Slivilith were also remarkably hardy creatures, able to survive for indefinite periods in the cold vacuum of space.
Their wings, while ungainly looking, generated enough power to allow slivilith to break free of a planet's gravitational pull and escape into the void, propelling itself with the force required to travel between worlds. The slivilith could enter into a hibernation state where it survived on its own internal gases and stored nutrients for centuries, only awakening due to the heat caused by re-entry into a new atmosphere. The fact that slivilith were only ever seen alone and spent much of their lives hibernating between worlds led many scientists to believe they were hermaphrodites.
Slivilith possessed little intelligence of their own, and little was known of their life cycle, diet, or method of reproduction. However, what was certain was that they were vicious and fearsome predators, hunting and capturing prey by ensnaring it with their tentacles and pulling it into its maw. Slivilith were reputed to consume everything on a world before moving onto the next one, awakening when entering a new planet and immediately finding a new place to lair. Slivilith prioritized finding and maintaining its safe haven over anything else, including finding nourishment—unusual for most creatures that existed in the vacuum of space, which mostly preferred the cold of the void, the Yuuzhan Vong-created slivilith were compelled by their archaic genetic programming to seek warmth and heat immediately upon leaving hibernation.
A slivilith travels through space en route to Arbra.
The slivilith were creations of the extra-galactic race known as the Yuuzhan Vong, skilled bioengineers who created the beasts as an early experiment in developing a living long-range intelligence gathering device. Although the Yuuzhan Vong would not invade the galaxy until thousands of years later, the slivilith had started to appear in the galaxy as far back as the Old Sith Wars, used as scouts by the vanguard force called the Praetorite Vong. By the era of the Galactic Civil War, slivilith were widely considered to be myths by the galaxy at large, as there had been only four verified encounters with slivilith over the previous four thousand years. However, they became popular fixtures in entertainment, featuring frequently in Jedi holo-serials during the final years of the Galactic Republic, and serving as the villains in the Imperial-era holo-serial The Voyages of the VSD Protector.
Although the true story of the slivilith's origins eluded researchers, their existence and origins was a hot topic of debate for centuries, with the wider scientific consensus agreeing that they had not evolved naturally. Multiple schools of thinking developed on the slivilith's origins, with one camp believing that Arkanian geneticists had created the slivilith, while still others crediting them as Sithspawn creations of the ancient Sith Lords. During the Yuuzhan Vong War some researchers had begun to posit that the extragalactic aliens were in fact responsible, but most scholars rejected the theory.
Slivilith were extremely rare in the wider galaxy, leading most to think of them as little more than a tale. However, by the era of the Galactic Civil War there had been four confirmed encounters with slivilith: one shortly after the Freedon Nadd Uprising almost four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, two during the Clone Wars, and one by a team of Rebels on the planet Arbra in 3 ABY. In that instance, a slivilith had nested itself inside a cave important to the native Hoojibs, forcing the diminutive sentients away from the power rods they relied on for sustenance. When a Rebel scouting party led by Princess Leia Organa arrived on Arbra to evaluate it as a potential site for a new Alliance base, they allied with the Hoojibs to fight the slivilith. The Rebels managed to defeat the fearsome beast through the strength of the Wookiee Chewbacca, who grabbed hold of the slivilith's tentacles and impaled it on the cavern's power rods.
The slivilith first appeared in Star Wars (1977) 55, written by David Michelinie and released in 1981. The creature's origins and backstory were later greatly expanded upon in the 2001 Wizards of the Coast sourcebook Alien Anthology, which established it as being a Yuuzhan Vong creation.
- "ComicScan: Marvelously Silly Aliens" — Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 3
- Alien Anthology
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Galaxy of Intrigue